Written Answers Friday 27 February 2009

Scottish Executive

Ambulance Service

Jackson Carlaw (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) employed and (b) volunteer drivers there have been in the Scottish Ambulance Service in each year since 1999.

Nicola Sturgeon: The following table details the number of volunteer ambulance car drivers since 2004, broken down by NHS board area. Information is not held for the years prior to 2003-04.

  

 NHS Board
 2003-04
 2004-05
 2005-06
 2006-07
 2007-08
 2008-09


 Argyll and Clyde#
 18
 18
 0
 0
 0
 0


 Ayrshire and Arran
 15
 16
 14
 11
 14
 17


 Borders
 9
 9
 10
 10
 10
 4


 Dumfries and Galloway
 25
 25
 21
 21
 28
 22


 Fife 
 11
 13
 14
 12
 17
 14


 Forth Valley 
 29
 34
 35
 35
 45
 45


 Grampian
 19
 21
 20
 19
 19
 15


 Greater Glasgow and Clyde
 47
 46
 45
 38
 42
 31


 Highland
 57
 58
 64
 64
 88
 58


 Lanarkshire
 28
 30
 32
 26
 29
 17


 Lothian
 13
 11
 10
 10
 10
 8


 Orkney
 4
 4
 2
 1
 4
 2


 Shetland
 0
 1
 0
 0
 1
 0


 Tayside
 28
 25
 24
 24
 27
 23


 Western Isles
 12
 13
 14
 9
 17
 10


 Scotland
 315
 324
 305
 280
 351
 266



  Notes:

  *Information provided by the Scottish Ambulance Service.

  **Information for 2008-09 is as at 19 February 2009.

  #Dissolution of NHS Argyll and Clyde – figures for 2005-06 and 2006-07 included in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and NHS Highland.

  The Scottish Ambulance Service do not employ drivers. The service employs a mix of paramedics, technicians and ambulance care assistants to deliver the accident and emergency service and the patient transport service. Volunteer car drivers support the patient transport service by taking patients to hospital for routine appointments.

  The Scottish Ambulance Service recognises that the role of the volunteer driver in rural areas, in particular in the north of Scotland, is vital to ensuring that patients get to their hospital appointments. The patient transport service, which volunteer drivers support, exists for those with a medical need for transport. The appropriate mix of resources is the subject of on-going review against the changing requirements of patient groups.

  In order to attract some more volunteer car drivers in specific areas, the Scottish Ambulance Service ran an advertising campaign in local newspapers that cover rural areas. They also ran a targeted poster campaign in hospital clinics and GP surgeries. The service will continue to promote the recruitment of volunteer drivers through these channels.

Cancer

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the percentage take-up has been in the NHS Tayside area of the invitation to attend bowel cancer screening since the Scottish Bowel Screening Programme was introduced, also broken down by gender.

Nicola Sturgeon: There is no published data for the Scottish Bowel Screening programme, as yet.

  Data on the Scottish Bowel Screening Pilot was published in August 2008 via the Information Services Division (ISD) website on www.isdscotland.org/isd/5728.html.

Cancer

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people in the NHS Tayside area have been diagnosed with bowel cancer since the Scottish Bowel Screening Programme was introduced.

Nicola Sturgeon: Data on the number of people diagnosed with bowel (colorectal) cancer are available by NHS board and year (1980 to 2005) on the Information Services Division website:

  http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/servlet/FileBuffer?namedFile=cancer_colorectal_inc.xls&pContentDispositionType=inline.

  The latest year for which cancer registration data are complete is 2005.

  These figures include screen detected (through the pilot) and symptomatic bowel cancer diagnoses.

Civil Servants

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list any meetings between civil servants and representatives of the Scottish Green Party to discuss policy matters since May 2007 at which Scottish ministers were not present, also showing the (a) dates of the meetings, (b) topics discussed and (c) departments represented.

Bruce Crawford: The information requested is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Healthcare Associated Infection

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it first reported the 078 strain of Clostridium difficile to the Parliament.

Nicola Sturgeon: I refer the member to the answer to S3W-20033 on 29 January 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions can be found on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx .

  It has also been publicly reported through Health Protection Scotland since December 2007 – and further information is available on the Health Protection Scotland website by accessing the following link: http://www.documents.hps.scot.nhs.uk/hai/sshaip/publications/cdad/2007-12-20-ar-cdad.pdf.

Housing

Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when the final report of the Housing Supply Task Force will be published.

Alex Neil: The Housing Supply Task Force published its final report on Friday 6 February 2009. A copy has been provided to the Scottish Parliament’s Information Centre (Bib. number 47758).

NHS Procurement

Cathy Jamieson (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it will take to improve the NHS estate in light of the finding in the Audit Scotland report, Asset Management in the NHS in Scotland , that around a third of the estate will require major upgrading soon.

Nicola Sturgeon: The Scottish Government is investing £1.676 billion of capital resources in NHSScotland over three years. These record levels of capital investment are supporting replacement and upgrading of the estate as well as providing fit for purpose IT, equipment and vehicles. This investment represents an increase of 19.9% on the previous spending review period.

Regeneration

Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the most recent publication is of the Scottish Centre for Regeneration.

Alex Neil: The most recent publication of the Scottish Centre for Regeneration is the report of the Community Regeneration and Tackling Poverty learning network conference held on 27 January 2009.

Regeneration

Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the date of publication was of the most recent publication of the Scottish Centre for Regeneration.

Alex Neil: The report of the Community Regeneration and Tackling Poverty learning network conference was published on the Scottish Centre for Regeneration’s website on 24 February 2009. www.partnersinregeneration.com .

Regeneration

Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of the events organised by the Scottish Centre for Regeneration since May 2007.

Alex Neil: Since May 2007 the Scottish Centre for Regeneration has organised 40 different events attracting 1,479 delegates. Details of these are contained in the following table:

  

 Date
 Event Title
 Location
 Number Attended


 12-2-09
 Town Centres and Local High Streets Learning Network launch
 Stirling
 118


 27-1-09
 Community Regeneration and Tackling Poverty Learning Network launch
 Glasgow
 134


 19-1-09
 Identifying Your Learning Needs workshop
 Falkirk
 9


 5-12-08
 Identifying Your Learning Needs workshop
 Hamilton
 17


 1-12-08
 Identifying Your Learning Needs workshop
 Glasgow
 9


 18-11-08
 Identifying Your Learning Needs workshop
 Kilmarnock
 11


 10-11-08
 Identifying Your Learning Needs workshop
 Musselburgh
 16


 3-11-08 13-1-09
 Becoming a Learning Champion 2 day workshop
 Aberdeen
 10


 27-10-08
 Identifying Your Learning Needs workshop
 Kilmarnock
 10


 24-10-08
 Identifying Your Learning Needs workshop
 Kilmarnock
 11


 21-10-08
 Identifying Your Learning Needs workshop
 Leven
 21


 1-10-08
 Identifying Your Learning Needs workshop
 Glasgow
 14


 25-9-08
 Identifying Your Learning Needs workshop
 Aberdeen
 8


 9-9-08
 Identifying Your Learning Needs workshop
 Clydebank
 11


 21-8-08 18-9-08
 Becoming a Learning Champion 2 day workshop
 Barrhead
 9


 25-6-08
 Identifying Your Learning Needs workshop
 Glasgow
 12


 24-6-08
 Identifying Your Learning Needs workshop
 Aberdeen
 12


 19-6-08
 The same as who? – 1 in 10 people with learning disabilities are in work
 Glasgow
 95


 18-6-08
 Fairer Scotland Fund: Networking event for Community Planning Partnerships 
 Edinburgh
 85


 28-3-08 8-5-08
 Becoming a Learning Champion 2 day workshop
 Glasgow
 7


 20-3-08
 Community Regeneration – How can it contribute to financial inclusion?
 Glasgow
 95


 10-3-08
 Identifying Your Learning Needs workshop
 Edinburgh
 9


 28-2-08
 Identifying Your Learning Needs workshop
 Castle Douglas
 4


 28-2-08
 Linking Sustainable Housing and Regeneration
 Edinburgh
 93


 27-2-08
 Identifying Your Learning Needs workshop
 Glasgow
 12


 20-2-08
 Identifying Your Learning Needs workshop
 Inverness
 7


 13-2-08
 Identifying Your Learning Needs workshop
 Dundee
 12


 8-2-08
 Identifying Your Learning Needs workshop
 Dundee
 7


 22-1-08 pm
 Identifying Your Learning Needs workshop
 Glasgow
 10


 22-1-08 am
 Identifying Your Learning Needs workshop
 Glasgow
 13


 16-1-08 pm
 Identifying Your Learning Needs workshop
 Edinburgh
 7


 16-1-08 am
 Identifying Your Learning Needs workshop
 Edinburgh
 11


 24-1-08
 Identifying Your Learning Needs workshop
 Glasgow
 9


 24-1-08
 Employability – What can we learn from EQUAL?
 Edinburgh
 44


 28-11-07
 How to Develop Sustainable, Mixed Communities – Lessons from outwith Scotland
 Glasgow
 88


 20-11-07
 Identifying and Mainstreaming Success – lessons from Fife
 Glenrothes
 48


 1-11-07
 Working Together for a Healthier Scotland
 Glasgow
 160


 23-10-07
 Using Evidence to Help Plan Regeneration
 Paisley
 93


 25-9-07
 Making Best Use of Evidence in Outcome Agreements
 Perth
 29


 26-6-07
 Linking Neighbourhood and Local Strategic Planning for Regeneration
 Perth
 104


 Total
 
 
 1,473